Another Year of Expectations: Can I Live My Life to the Fullest Now?
by inuyasha's lullaby - farewell
Summary: And the last candle is blown out, and she sits there, surrounded by friends, thinking, "Hey, I made it one more damned year. What new things can I expect now?" – An experimental birthday!fic for…me, Satsuki Inuyasha Imaizumi.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Seven More Days, or a Week of False and True Anticipation**

"Rosalina, I'm telling you, he's the _one_!" Marth cried, tightly and shakily gripping his cup of green tea. "He's absolutely perfect and sweet and outright sexy!"

Rosalina rolled her eyes. "That's what you said about Ike and Roy. That's what you said about Zelda and Samus. That's what you say about everyone, Marth. And what happens? They turn out not to be perfect and sweet and outright sexy."

"Not true!" he countered. "Very not true! I'm mature enough to understand when something is not meant to be, damnit!" Rosalina sighed. The tears welling in Marth's eyes suggested otherwise.

"Shulk _loves_ me, Rose. He won't cheat on me like Samus and Ike or break up via text message like Zelda or just leave me in the middle of the night like Roy. He's not despicable like that! I can see it in his eyes; that man cares about me. Just give him a chance."

"I just don't want to see you get hurt again, Marth. You've a tendency to rush headfirst into relationships too quickly, and it hurts me to see you so upset whenever the apples become more than rotten. Nana, tell him! Tell Marth that we're just concerned for his deserved happiness!"

Nana Climber looked up from the book she was reading and half-interested and finally focused on the conversation that surrounded her. Her thoughts were wandering a bit – thinking of a bit of that and a bit of this – but they gathered nicely and paid some attention to Rosalina Star scolding Marth Lowell like an annoyed mother disciplining her fifteen-year-old never-learning child.

"Just be careful, Marth," Nana said, choosing her words somewhat carefully, "or the consequences will be inevitable. Remember that."

"I'll be alright, guys. I promise. If things get hella sour, then I'll take the initiative to be the…heartbreaker, for lack of better words."

Rosalina sighed again and sadly said, "Oh, Marthy-Marth…you're such a naïve boy."

"I know, Rose. That is what gives me my charm." Marth wiped a few stranded tears from his eyes, his wide smile masking any doubt and melancholy Nana knew he withheld in that bright, chained soul of his. He took a sip of his tea (though Nana compared to more like a gulp an alcoholic would take) and changed the subject of his romantic failures to an even more unpleasant topic.

"So, Nana, how do you feel about turning twenty in a few days? Seven more days to go, darling! Oh, I'm just so excited for my precious Na-chan!"

"Ah, yes!" Rosalina exclaimed, moving some of her blonde hair from her eyes. "Your birthday is approaching soon. You'll be joining the Twenty-Somethings Club soon enough."

Nana managed to produce a laugh, inwardly cringing at the mention of her upcoming day of birth. It was a day that, like Christmas and Thanksgiving, she did not like to talk about. Unlike the twenty-one-year-old Marth or twenty-two-year-old Rosalina, Nana was not the optimistic, happy-go-lucky, idealistic character. No, Nana Climber was pessimistic. A bringer of gloom and sarcasm. Cynical. People who held a low tolerance for persons like her would probably deem her the affectionate term of "bitch".

It was surprising that she even made a long-term relationship with Marth and Rosalina. She must've done something right.

But of course, that meant that she was stuck here, being forced to discuss the topic of May 8th. It was bothersome. Not the prospect of living on this beautiful yet cruel world for two decades: just birthdays in general. It'll come. She'll put on a fake smile. Open some useless, yet obviously greatly appreciated gifts. Celebrate the fact that you lived another year without dying or being seriously disfigured. Do it all again next year and the year after that and the year after that until you give your last breath as a present. Get reincarnated as a fucking rock.

Nana looked forward to her reincarnation as a rock ants will make their home under.

"Twenty is a nice age," Rosalina remarked, some sort of sparkle in her eyes. "I'd always loved it."

"Yeah," Marth agreed. "You're one year away from being able to legally drink."

Rosalina chuckled. "Marth, I was heading more to the fact that you become slightly more mature."

Marth snorted. "Yeah, if all the underage drinking doesn't brutally murder your brain cells."

The trio shared a laugh, though Nana only laughed because she was supposed to. She found it intriguing that Marth would mention underage drinking, seeing as how he tried to get them to play strip poker at the age of nineteen has scared him away from anything that is not water, tea, or ginger ale.

"You know, guys, Popo and I do share a birthday," Nana said, trying to shift the attention onto her twin brother Popo Climber, the exemplary model of underage drinking and fancy jackass extraordinaire.

"Isn't he in Fourside right now?" Marth pondered aloud, tapping the table with his nimble fingers. "Spending the kind of money that I'd resort to doing desperate things just to have?"

"Don't joke like that, Marth!" Rosalina cried. "I better be misinterpreting those implications! And besides, he's probably surrounded by women paid for their specialized services."

"I'm sure that's one hundred percent true," Nana noted, receiving the expected chuckle she wanted from Rosalina. "In matter of fact, let's add an extra ten or twenty percent for good measure."

The trio laughed again, this time with Miss Climber's laughter being genuine. The talk of her birthday was avoided for now, though she knew that Rosalina or Marth or someone else will bring it back up, and she'll have to try and skewer the conversation in her favor once again. After all, everyone will be dying to know what she wants for her birthday, what she wishes to do, where she wants to go. It was quite a lot of planning and work to celebrate the day where a sardonic girl and pervert-minded brother was brought into the world.

It was time yet again to wait an agonizing seven more days, or one exact week of false and true anticipation.

Little did she knew that a lot of things will be changing for her, some for the better, some for the worse, and some for the really worse.

But for now, Nana Climber is just figuring out what kind of rock she wants to be reincarnated as.

* * *

 **Well, I've decided to write a birthday!fic for myself that doesn't seem egocentric in any way whatsoever.**

 **Anyhow, my birthday is, indeed, May 8** **th** **. Unlike Nana, I'm not turning twenty; I'm just turning sixteen. Most teenagers would be excited about becoming that age for obvious reasons, but I guess I'm an exception. Yeah, I get a driver's license – that's sounds** _ **amazing**_ **. Sarcasm intended. I'm getting older. Soon I'll be dead in the ground, rotting with the maggots and – oh God, I'm over exaggerating again.** _ **Oops**_ **.**

 **I guess I should be happy about turning sixteen. Or I could be dark and spread the word of how a birthday just means we're another step closer to death (I so wasn't making a self-reference to one of my stories, heh heh). You know, I should just shut up and be optimistic instead of pessimistic. You older writers are most likely laughing at me right now. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.**

 **See ya next chapter titled either The World Spins and Spins or Rotate and Rotate Some More.**

 **Also, Nana's nicknamed Na-chan because I literally cannot think of a decent-sounding nickname for her.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Rotate and Rotate Some More**

"One more day? Oh, that's just fucking superb! Fan-freakin'-tastic. What are you getting me, a rope so I can hang myself?" is what Nana Climber would love to say to her dear friend, naïvety master Marth Lowell. However, she would not be the one to express her indifference towards the day of birth to the happy-go-lucky bluenette, so she said instead:

"One more day? Oh, that's just _superb_! Fantastic. What are you getting me, that New Nintendo 3DS I've been eyeing?" Nana inwardly winced at the amount of sarcasm she placed into those statements.

Marth wagged his finger, shaking his hips in a goofy and semi-seductive manner. Thank God it was just them in Nana's living room; no one but her and Rosalina needed to see the adorable, pathetic, sweetly embarrassing mess that was Marth Lowell.

"Ah, ah, ah – I cannot reveal what you were destined to receive."

"So...the New Nintendo 3DS, right?"

Marth scowled, much to Nana's slightly-twisting amusement. "Damn, Nana, can't you pretend to be excited?"

"No, not really," Nana replied nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders. "Besides, for you and you only, I just pretended."

Marth's eyes widened, and Nana could tell that Marth did not notice her "excitement" that was laced with poisonous sarcasm earlier. Though, she was serious about the New Nintendo 3DS; Marth had always given some type of gaming-related thing, and she wasn't expecting the routine to stop anytime soon.

"You're such as ass," Marth commented. Nana grinned.

"You are just now realizing that? What the hell took you so long?" She laughed heartily as Marth kindly flipped her off. She pondered how their friendship evolved to such a point where they can insult each like that. Somewhere along the way, they screwed up; and once they started frequenting the local café, they brought barista Rosalina Star into the dangerously fun ground with them.

The two perfectly mismatched friends didn't even hear the front door unlock and someone enter the fairly-large apartment until a voice that matched Nana's indifferent behavior unexpectedly insulted Marth.

In the required friendly manner, of course.

"Takes Marthy-Marth here twenty years to realize something – excuse the pun, Na-chan."

Marth raised an eyebrow at the fellow that just entered the scene, remarking how he, too, was such an ass. Nana laughed, knowing that a very special person just came along to brighten her day.

"Well, well, well: Lucas Goldenrod has decided to show his all-knowing face. What brings you here, O Golden Savior?"

Lucas appeared behind Nana, wrapping his arms around Nana's waist. "This Golden Savior lives here with very special girlfriend."

"Doesn't mean you need to be here, interrupting important matters with your unneeded comments," Marth retorted, crossing his arms, "O Golden Pissant."

Lucas smirked. "Thou is right, but I must remind m'lady that she has survived another year without dying a horrible, deliciously bloody death, Sir Blueberry Harlot. By the way – the hell's a _pissant_?"

"You, obviously."

"Ah, thanks for the clarification."

Marth smiled. "No problem, Lucas."

"May we project the attention onto me, please?" Nana asked, adding a childish tone to her voice for a nice amount of realistic fakeness. Lucas and Marth looked at each other before bursting into hysterical laughter. Ha, ha, ha. Ha! Nana was exactly sure what the big deal was; she said something that warranted a mere chuckle or two, not full-on laughter that may or may not be forced. There was the highly likely possibility that these two were acting like asses – which was the usual whenever these two breathed the same air. It was a bit embarrassing…alright, hella embarrassing, if she were to be brutally honest. Thank God it was just them in Nana's living room; no one but her and Rosalina needed to see the adorable, pathetic, sweetly embarrassing messes that was Marth Lowell and Lucas Goldenrod.

"The hell is wrong with you two?"

"You want attention?" Marth asked, a devilish smirk forming on his face. "Well, we'll give the Soon-to-Be Birthday Girl all the precious attention she deserves!"

"Piss off!" Nana exclaimed.

"Ah, my queen, my queen, normally you do not demand the attention: you just receive it without warrant." Lucas produced the same smirk as Marth, but it looked better and more suitable for his character. "My God, is the fact that you're turning twenty actually making you _excited_? _Giddy_? Like _Marth_?!"

Nana and Marth glared at Lucas, with the bluenette giving the expected dismissal of "Screw off, you sunflower-colored rat." Nana sighed, desperately wishing she could reincarnate as a rock already. Or maybe no reincarnation at all, so she would have to deal with this shit all over again. Just rot in the ground with the maggots and dirt-eating microorganisms. After all, there was no need to be reincarnated, now that she thought about it. The world would continue to spin and spin after she's long gone, celebrating her birthday silently by herself in some dark, yet fancy, coffin. No matter how many lives she'll live, it'll be the same routine over and over, with only very slightly differentiated variables. Everything will rotate and rotate some more.

It's all just an everlasting cycle, you know.

But it's not time to spew out random, dark philosophical stuff at a time like this, for a well-placed savior known as the doorbell ringing allowed Nana to remove herself from totally pleasant stupidity to answer the door. Glad that it was the sensible Rosalina that arrived on the scene at the perfect time, Nana told the two boys to shut the hell up…which they did not do. The brunette rolled her eyes, blissfully unaware of the people that would be visiting her.

She placed her hand on the doorknob, twisting it…

…and all chatter stopped as the door opened and revealed a highly-pissed Rosalina Star accompanied by Shulk Monado and Popo Climber. One thought ran through Nana Climber's mind as her brother exclaimed his happiness to see her:

 _Oh fucking shit._

* * *

 **Yay, I introduce Lucas and he's just as sardonic as Nana. #PerfectMatch**

 **Oh, and welcome Shulk and Popo.**

 **Anyway, one more day to the big 16. I'm absolutely** _ **gleaming**_ **with excitement. Sparkling like the sun, bro. The only thing that made me happy was that my birthday outfit – a Pokémon dress with an Attack on Titan hat and sunglasses – came in the mail a few days ago. Now I can look I like a true weeaboo on Friday. Yay for an otaku's existence.**

 **So, this story will have three or four more chapters, all being posted periodically throughout tomorrow – my birthday. I'm going to say this now: if any of you wish to give me a birthday present, buy me a life-sized statue of Inuyasha. I am so freakin' serious. I'm waiting.**

 **I probably should mention that this story has no real plot whatsoever. Well, it does, but it** _ **doesn't**_ **. It's just…** _ **here**_ **.**

 **See ya next time in Chapter 3: Birthday Candles Are Cheerful Safety Hazards.**


End file.
